Tag Archives: St. Louis Blues

The 2018 Hockey Hall of Fame Class was inducted on Monday, plus we remember the NHL Guardians and celebrate Joe Thornton’s milestones. Tomas Plekanec retired– leaving us a turtleneck to pass on ceremoniously– and Milan Lucic was fined $10,000.

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ plight comes with an extension for General Manager Jim Rutherford, while the Los Angeles Kings battle the injury bug in net (we finished recording before Wednesday’s trade between the two clubs).

Meanwhile, Tom Wilson is back, a concussion lawsuit was settled, the 2019 NWHL All-Star Game was announced, Jakob Chychrun got a six-year extension and Nick and Connor discuss when they’ll eventually let their kids (if they ever have any) play contact sports.

Pekka Rinne signed a two-year extension, John Stevens and Joel Quenneville were fired, Willie Desjardin’s back and there’s a new guy in Chicago (Jeremy Colliton), Philadelphia Flyers goaltending is in the news again, people in Ottawa are fired up about Uber, Lou Lamoriello reached 2,400 games as a GM as the New York Islanders lead the Metropolitan Division and is Halloween the new Thanksgiving? Nick and Connor discuss.

With Tuesday’s latest leak of the Los Angeles Kings, Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs third jerseys comes time to finally announce one DTFR writer’s thoughts and power rankings of all the latest threads around the National Hockey League for 2018-19 and beyond.

Teams often try to generate a look that is representative of their brand and generates a buzz. Some of the new jerseys certainly generate a buzz, but for being so off-brand or so far-off from what was previously conceptualized as reality.

The last sentence was full of jargon to remind you this isn’t some serious reading. It’s a light-hearted ranking of one taste in threads– not representative of the masses who for some reason still think The Mighty Ducks is a great movie franchise or whatever.

Hold the phone on those strong Lightning takes (unless they’re bluffing and this is really what they have or were going to go with until everyone released a collective “what the [expletive] is that?”).

18. Pittsburgh Penguins (unveiled, Oct. 9, 2018)

A blend of heritage from the 1980s and our recent Stadium Series sweaters.

The Penguins brought back their 2017 Stadium Series jersey, minus the triangle surrounding the captain and alternate captain designations. They also put the numbers on the shoulders and gave them yellow helmets. It’s gross.

Congrats Flyers fans, you beat Pittsburgh at something. Granted, by one position in these rankings. No amount of Gritty can save you now.

Philly took their 2017 Stadium Series jersey and kept with their own tradition of making an outdoor game jersey part of their regular lineup by fitting it to ADIZERO standards. It’s… fine? The black numbers outlined in white could’ve been white numbers with an orange outline, just to make them distinguishable from the balcony or something.

The 2015-17 era third jersey that’s meant to look like a modern-retro interpretation of the Colorado Rockies if the Rockies existed as the Avalanche today (did you get that all?) was brought back in the ADIZERO technology.

Anaheim introduced a mashup of their entire 25-year franchise history and produced… this. It’s not the original look and it’s not even original. It’s a bunch of recycled bits, plus a weird, new yoke thing. That’s exactly what they wanted me to call it. No, the Ducks didn’t tell me to say that.

At least they didn’t come out here and lay an egg in my review, but it’s pretty close to it. Good news, these are only a one-season thing. Try again next year.

Every time the Devils bring their Heritage Jerseys out, I think of 1) pizza, 2) the Italian flag and 3) the 1980s. I wasn’t even alive until the ’90s, but I think of vintage Martin Brodeur.

A rarity in today’s league, New Jersey introduced a white alternate to their palette of sweaters to choose from any given night. Luckily, it doesn’t look terrible, since it’s just their 1982 sweater modernized in the ADIZERO styling.

13. Columbus Blue Jackets (unveiled, Sept. 17, 2018)

The Columbus Blue Jackets have announced the return of the cannon! Re-introducing their alternate uniform for the upcoming 2018-19 NHL season this morning #BlueJackets#Adidas#AdidasHockey#NHL

The Blue Jackets brought back their 2015-17 alternate sweaters, but with an updated number and letter font to match their home and road jerseys in addition to the overall ADIZERO cut.

Overall, Columbus’ resurrection of these isn’t terrible– it’s middle of the road.

12. Edmonton Oilers (unveiled, Sept. 4, 2018)

We’re also excited to unveil the #Oilers retro jersey that will be worn four times this season vs. former Smythe Division opponents, plus the 40th anniversary jersey patch that will be worn on all jerseys during 2018-19! pic.twitter.com/cLgrQBxWY9

Edmonton debuted an ’80s era Throwback sweater in the ADIZERO style and the only thing I have to say (other than there’s nothing special about it that sets it apart from the rest) is that royal blue should still be their primary color, really.

Maybe take my word for it, Oilers.

11. Los Angeles Kings (leaked, Nov. 6, 2018)

It’s just their 50th anniversary specialty sweaters without any gold and updated to the ADIZERO cut, so not terrible, but not great. Kind of like their team in a nutshell. They’ve won a couple Cups, they’ve got some big names, but they’re not in their golden days anymore. I guess Kings fans like them, so it’s not all bad. Oh there’s a little purple in the inside collar with the old-school 1967 crown, so that’s cool.

The Islanders saw what the Washington Capitals wore against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2018 Stadium Series game and said “Yeah! We want something just like that!”, so they ditched the Brooklyn black sweater for these nifty threads. The traditional four orange stripes on the “Y” in “NY” represent the four Cups the franchise has won and serve as tape on the hockey stick the “Y” just so happens to make.

It’s a little nice touch to an otherwise bland looking sweater. At the very least, the numbers are in orange– outlined in white– just like they were on the original blue sweaters the club wore in 1972-73, so creativity points?

While not originally planned– necessarily– as part of the return of third jerseys from their one-year hiatus as adidas took over for Reebok as the league’s jersey supplier, Ottawa took their 2017 Centennial Classic sweater and made it their regular alternate jersey for the foreseeable future on Thursday nights.

It’s possible the silver-O jersey may stick around past 2018-19, since the team is said to be working on a brand new primary logo for 2019-20 and beyond.

For the first time since relocating to Winnipeg, the Jets introduced a brand new third jersey featuring a new wordmark crest (an homage to the original Jets franchise from their WHA days), striping that’s reminiscent of the old Jets franchise (but from the 1990s and updated to the current club’s colors) and baby blue as the primary color of the sweater, presumably paying tribute (though not actually) to their original days as the Atlanta Thrashers.

Winnipeg also has a new number font to complete the look.

It’s not bad, just a little disappointing considering the goldmine of a shoulder patch logo on the home and road sweaters that could’ve really made an alternate jersey pop.

Washington brought back their 1974 original look that they also used the white version of for the 2011 Winter Classic in Pittsburgh. The Capitals switched to the red ones in 2015 and used them as alternates through 2017, then took the mandatory one-year hiatus of all third jerseys in accordance with the switch to adidas as the jersey supplier and ADIZERO as the jersey style.

St. Louis went with their original threads that they wore back in 1967 and the 2017 Winter Classic at Busch Stadium, but just, like adidas-ified. #ADIZEROtechnology

Tired of the white numbers on the blue home sweaters? Don’t worry, in 1967, the Blues got it right and they’re bringing those jerseys back to a regular basis as their alternates, so they’ll look right some of the time this season and beyond.

3. Arizona Coyotes (unveiled, June 22, 2018)

We wanted to create the most beautiful jersey in the world.

Then we realized, the most beautiful jersey in the world was already created.

One of the few good things to come from the 1990s was the classic, outlandish, look of the Arizona Coyotes kachina sweaters. These throwback thirds have been updated to the ADIZERO fit and aren’t anything new, but nostalgia sells and in a time where everything old is new again, the Coyotes timed it right to bring back some ’90s-chic.

The Hurricanes introduced a brand-new third jersey featuring the correct hurricane warning flag display as a crest, the North Carolina state flag– slightly modified to a greyscale– as a shoulder patch (which they had to get approved by the state government to add to the sweater), a grey yoke with a red outline on a black jersey with two red sleep stripes and a red trim.

Overall it’s a glamorous combination of modern, sleek and stormy. This isn’t actually all that bad once it’s flying around the ice or flossing– did I get that right?

Carolina introduced a special throwback sweater that’ll be worn twice this season as the team will rebrand itself for a couple of nights. Yes, blast “Brass Bonanza” from your speakers, ladies and gentlemen, because the Hartford Whalers have returned (kind of).

These ADIZERO Whalers threads have been updated to the current jersey cut and branded with blue hurricane warning flags inside the collar and will be worn on Dec. 23rd in Raleigh against Boston and on March 5th in Boston against the Bruins.

Hartford, Connecticut residents may be unnerved, but I’ll step right up and take 20 as a hockey fan, thanks.

Re-introducing a black third jersey, the Sharks went full-on stealth mode by calling these teal and black masterpieces Stealth Jerseys. Think of those midnight jerseys Reebok made for all the teams a few years ago and that’s pretty much it for San Jose. Take out a lot of white and orange, replace it with black, teal and a microchip design in the sleeve.

They actually don’t look that bad, especially when Erik Karlsson was the one to debut them in the preseason much to the surprise of the fans at SAP Center.

We’re still waiting on the Los Angeles Kings, Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs to officially unveil their new sweaters, but all three already leaked so let’s just assume nothing’s going to change between now and when the sweaters hit the ice.

You can once again begin asking the question “is it October yet?” without facing any legal ramifications, despite the fact that the 2018-19 regular season is very much alive and in effect.

Canadian Thanksgiving has come and gone, but for all of you urban legend believers in postseason fate, American Thanksgiving has yet to pass– meaning every team’s playoff hopes is still technically alive. The majority of teams in playoff position by American Thanksgiving– in this case, Nov. 22nd– make the playoffs.

If you’re new to hockey, this is a thing, but it’s not set in stone. There’s always that one or two teams that sneak their way in from outside the picture frame. Likewise, there’s always that team that blows it down the stretch.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are off to a hot start, working their way to 1st place in the Atlantic Division by the end of October, with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins hot on their tail just as we all expected.

Though the Maple Leafs have a fiery offense and solid goaltending, defense has been the most apparent area for improvement. In Boston, depth scoring, injuries and a slow start in net for Tuukka Rask have held the Bruins back from realizing their full potential, but the depth of their defenders and backup netminder Jaroslav Halak have kept them in good-standing.

In the surprise of the month for the Atlantic Division, the Montreal Canadiens sit 4th and the Buffalo Sabres sit 5th– both with 14 points on the season so far. Meanwhile, to no surprise the Ottawa Senators are 6th, the Detroit Red Wings are in a rebuild and the Florida Panthers simply haven’t played as many games as their opponents.

Taking a look at the Metropolitan Division and you won’t be surprised to see the Pittsburgh Penguins back in control with Sidney Crosby at the steering wheel, but you might be surprised by the other current divisional playoff spot holders.

The New York Islanders are 2nd and the Carolina Hurricanes are 3rd after the Hurricanes led the division for most of the month, only to begin a recent skid.

Just on the outskirts of a wild card spot are the Washington Capitals, Columbus Blue Jackets and New Jersey Devils.

Washington’s off to a slower start than expected, but overall not feeling as bad as a Stanley Cup hangover as it could’ve been– given how many fountains around D.C. they dove in and the number of beers consumed.

Columbus is just over .500 and the Devils have also played fewer games than anyone in their division, much like the Panthers.

The Philadelphia Flyers sit 7th in the Metropolitan Division in a tight race, but have shown weaknesses on the blue line and in the blue paint (goaltending, again) and the New York Rangers are in a full-scale rebuild to start things off this season.

In the Western Conference, the Nashville Predators are staking a case for defending their President’s Trophy season last year currently sitting atop the Central Division, as well as the league.

Filling out the remaining Central Divisions spots, last season’s biggest improvers, the Colorado Avalanche sit 2nd with the Minnesota Wild in 3rd. There’s two wild card berth in the Central Division, currently held by the Winnipeg Jets and Chicago Blackhawks(!?!)– that’s right, last season’s division bottom feeders are able to keep their heads barely above the surface with Corey Crawford back in the net.

The Dallas Stars sit 6th and the St. Louis Blues have had the wheels fall off in just a month’s time.

In the Pacific Division, the Vancouver Canucks lead the San Jose Sharks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Arizona Coyotes, Anaheim Ducks, Vegas Golden Knights and the 31st place team in the league– the Los Angeles Kings.

Yes, the Pacific Division is that wide-open so far with legitimate playoff contenders from last season (San Jose, Anaheim, Vegas and Los Angeles) all over the place. The Sharks haven’t hit their stride, the Ducks are suffering from injuries and defensive breakdowns, while the Golden Knights are looking for last season’s inaugural season magic.

Oh and the Kings? Yeah, everything’s pretty bad right now and Jonathan Quick‘s out indefinitely.

Meanwhile, pleasant surprises in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Arizona are being led by… youth?

Nothing makes sense anymore.

Luckily, that’s just a quick recap of the first month in about as bland an outlook as you can get when the meat of this post is really about what’s to come. That’s right, everything above? Forget most of it. Let’s use a little foresight and figure out how November through April should go.

2018-19 Projected Standings after One Month

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

y-Boston Bruins, 104 points (12 GP so far)

x-Tampa Bay Lightning, 103 points (11 GP so far)

x-Toronto Maple Leafs, 94 points (12 GP so far)

wc1-Montreal Canadiens, 93 points (11 GP so far)

Florida Panthers, 84 points (9 GP so far)

Ottawa Senators, 84 points (11 GP so far)

Detroit Red Wings, 81 points (12 GP so far)

Buffalo Sabres, 76 points (12 GP so far)

What’s bound to happen in the Atlantic?

The forecast is so close between the top-three teams in the division that none of their positions in the standings are truly set in stone, unlike how the Red Wings will undoubtedly land somewhere in the bottom-three spots in the Atlantic.

There’s a chance the Panthers never get off the ground and there’s a chance the Sabres are able to continue turning heads around the league by not currently being in the basement of the division. However, since this forecast takes into consideration recent seasons in addition to current gameplay…

Check back in another month.

(Is it too early to do one of these? Yeah, probably.)

Metropolitan Division

z-Washington Capitals, 107 points (10 GP so far)

x-Pittsburgh Penguins, 106 points (10 GP so far)

x-Columbus Blue Jackets, 93 points (11 GP so far)

wc2- New York Islanders, 89 points (11 GP so far)

Philadelphia Flyers, 89 points (12 GP so far)

New York Rangers, 89 points (12 GP so far)

New Jersey Devils, 87 points (9 GP so far)

Carolina Hurricanes, 85 points (12 GP so far)

The biggest takeaway from the Metropolitan forecast is after the top-two teams, anything goes.

Washington will be able to right the ship and land in a divisional spot– whether that’s top-dog or behind the Penguins remains to be seen. Columbus should even out as they’ve been doing as of late and settle in for another First Round exit (probably).

But between the Islanders, Flyers, Rangers, Devils and Hurricanes? Yeah, anything goes.

The Islanders are better than the Rangers, but the Rangers might somehow be better than the Flyers. Meanwhile, if New Jersey can get things going like they did last season, they’ve got a chance to box out the competition. Plus, Carolina remains unpredictable and foreseeably within striking range of a wild card spot in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Again, it’s only been one month. There’s still a little more than five months left in the regular season.

Western Conference

Central Division

z-Nashville Predators, 105 points (12 GP so far)

x-Minnesota Wild, 100 points (12 GP so far)

x-Chicago Blackhawks, 98 points (13 GP so far)

wc1-St. Louis Blues, 96 points (10 GP so far)

wc2-Winnipeg Jets, 94 points (12 GP so far)

Dallas Stars, 90 points (11 GP so far)

Colorado Avalanche, 85 points (12 GP so far)

In the Central Division, the Nashville Predators continue to reign supreme. Cool.

Minnesota, Chicago and St. Louis are all somehow destined for the postseason. This, after the Wild make it every year, Crawford’s return lifts the Blackhawks over the competition and supposedly the Blues will figure things out.

Wait, the Avalanche can’t be that bad.

Once again, it’s an extremely early forecast that takes into account recency bias from the last few seasons. Colorado won’t be last. Winnipeg shouldn’t be a wild card team.

But Dallas? Yeah, they’re definitely not making the playoffs if they keep playing like they have been.

Pacific Division

y-San Jose Sharks, 101 points (12 GP so far)

x-Anaheim Ducks, 98 points (13 GP so far)

x-Calgary Flames, 89 points (13 GP so far)

Los Angeles Kings, 87 points (11 GP so far)

Vancouver Canucks, 84 points (14 GP so far)

Edmonton Oilers, 83 points (11 GP so far)

Arizona Coyotes, 77 points (11 GP so far)

Vegas Golden Knights, 75 points (12 GP so far)

By now everything you’ve read should indicate what’s going to be written below.

Anaheim? If they can whether the storm, they can make it in one of the most unpredictable divisions based on how bad the other teams are or should be.

Calgary? Bill Peters finally coaches a team to a playoff berth? Yeah. That should happen.

The Kings can recover from this slow start– if they don’t mess things up in November.

As for the Canucks, Oilers, Coyotes and Golden Knights, well, Vancouver might make some noise. Edmonton could be a pretender as long as Connor McDavid is a contender. Arizona remains to be seen and the situation looks like it’s only going to get worse for Vegas before anything gets better– if it even does.

Injuries are scaring the masses across the league, while old ghosts haunt Colorado (then lose), the Los Angeles Kings’ reign of terror is spooked, Mark Borowiecki is back again, Nick and Connor do their best to talk about the Columbus Blue Jackets and the thing that goes bump in the night? That’s the Tampa Bay Lightning thundering their way to the top. We also reviewed Bohemian Rhapsody before it comes out.

John Tavares and Patrice Bergeron both had hat tricks in the last week, so Nick and Connor discuss hat trick ethics and more, since celebrations are hot topics these days. Also, everything else that happened in the first week of regular season action.

Offseason Analysis: Only one team in the NHL’s more than a century of existence has ever won the Cup in their inaugural season. The 2017-18 Vegas Golden Knights almost joined the 1917-18 Toronto Arenas as the only teams to win the Cup in their inaugural season. Toronto beat the Pacific Coast Hockey Association’s (PCHA) Vancouver Millionaires 3-2 in a best of five-game series.

Vegas came up three wins short of winning it all in the modern-day best-of-seven game series against the Washington Capitals that the Stanley Cup Final has become.

The Golden Knights didn’t have an unfair advantage in the 2017 Expansion Draft. General Manager George McPhee worked the trade market to his advantage, primarily building the inaugural season’s core group of players through acquisitions.

Owner Bill Foley has touted the “Cup-in-three” mantra, meaning it’s his goal as an organization to win the Cup in their first three years of existence. Upon league expansion in 1967, it took the Philadelphia Flyers seven years to win their first Cup.

Foley wants to do it in half the time.

McPhee’s already gone to work on improving his roster from year one to year two. He’s added Paul Stastny via free agency and Max Pacioretty in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens.

Stastny, 32, joins the Golden Knights after spending last season with the St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets. In 82 games split between the Blues and Jets, Stastny had 16-37–53 totals.

A deadline acquisition by Winnipeg, he had 13 points down the stretch in the remaining 19 games of the regular season, then had his best career performance in the postseason (15 points in 17 games) en route to the Western Conference Final against (his now current team) Vegas.

Despite Stastny’s playmaking style and ability to elevate the players around him in Patrik Laine and friends in Winnipeg, the Jets were no match for the hard-charging Golden Knights.

If you can’t beat them, join them.

The old saying rings true for Stastny, despite Winnipeg’s intentions on re-signing the veteran NHL center entering his 13th season in the league. He’ll slide in on Vegas’ second line behind William Karlsson and play alongside one of his best friends since they played together at the 2010 Winter Games, Max Pacioretty.

Yes, that’s right, Pacioretty is a Golden Knight– in case you’ve been under a rock since training camp.

At its surface, the price of the Pacioretty trade is one well spent for both teams. Vegas acquired Pacioretty in exchange for Tomas Tatar, prospect Nick Suzuki and a 2019 2nd round pick. That’s right about what you’d expect as a going rate for a top-six scorer– one current roster player, a prospect and a draft pick.

But for all that McPhee dealt to the Detroit Red Wings to add Tatar at the trade deadline last season, this Pacioretty deal carries a hefty trade-tree baggage, whereby a lot of assets were ultimately tossed in the pot for Pacioretty’s services.

At the very least, McPhee not only added a five-time 30-goal scorer, but he signed him to a four-year extension right away too. So if things don’t work out this season, the Golden Knights will remain in the hunt for the next few years.

Why’s that?

On top of their solid core group of forwards, Vegas has a crafty defense that’s capable of doing more than turning heads like they did last season. There’s just one catch though– they’ll have to do it without Nate Schmidt for the first quarter of the regular season.

Schmidt will be serving a 20-game suspension for a performance enhancing drug, leaving Colin Miller and Shea Theodore to do the bulk of the work with Brayden McNabb and Deryk Engelland rounding out the rest of the top-four defenders.

Brad Hunt and Nick Holden, in the meantime, seek to use the first 20 games as an audition for the sixth defenseman role upon Schmidt’s return to the lineup.

Miller signed a four-year extension this summer and Theodore signed a seven-year deal worth $5.200 million per season. While seven years might be a bit more than the Golden Knights can chew if Theodore’s play heads south, at least he’s signed to a manageable $5.200 million cap hit– up to 50% of which can be retained in a trade.

With an immense top-nine group of forwards and questions surrounding who will step up on defense in Schmidt’s absence, head coach Gerard Gallant must adjust accordingly as he’s always done– on-the-fly and with the complete buy-in of the dressing room.

In goal, Marc-Andre Fleury— now signed through the 2021-22 season, thanks to a three-year extension this summer on top of the remaining year on his current contract– must find a way to continue his rejuvenated play in net. Last season’s 2.24 goals against average and .927 save percentage are more than likely unattainable in back-to-back seasons.

One thing working in Fleury’s favor is his reduced workload. In his second-straight season under 50 games played, Fleury appeared in 46 games last season after battling a concussion.

Malcolm Subban (2.68 GAA, .910 SV% in 22 games played last season) is still in line to become the next Golden Knights starting netminder in the post-Fleury era, but he undoubtedly must see an increase in playing time this season.

It’s not quite a 1A, 1B option for Vegas, but rather a precaution for Fleury and a means of keeping their starter fresh for what could be another long postseason run.

Unless any of the other Pacific Division teams have anything to say about it.

Offseason Grade: B+

McPhee bolstered his top-six forward group this offseason with two simple moves, while preserving the large-scale depth of the Golden Knights prospect pool. They didn’t land Erik Karlsson, John Tavares or Ilya Kovalchuk, but they did get Max Pacioretty.

And they still have quite an impressive amount of cap space to work with next offseason as the franchise continues to settle into existence.

I never thought I’d be doing this again, yet here we are. It’s time to begin the continuation of a now annual tradition around here at DTFR. It’s time to rank the NHL mascots.

For the first time since January 2017, here’s the latest look at things. Be sure to check out yesterday’s ranking (31st-21st) and stay tuned for tomorrow’s top-10.

20) Tommy Hawk (Chicago Blackhawks) Last year’s ranking 14th

The Blackhawks jersey is a timeless classic, but time has been catching up on Tommy Hawk. First of all, he’s a hawk that looks more like a penguin and second, he’s now been traded to the Arizona Coyotes for cap relief purposes, I’m being told by my producer.

Gnash isn’t that bad looking, but Nashville’s home jersey lost its edge in the transition from Reebok EDGE 2.0 to ADIZERO technology. Because of that, we get a pretty average looking mascot that has many talents including entertaining the Tennessee Titans when they aren’t chugging beers and swinging catfish around at a playoff game.

Thunderbug may lay claim to having a dominant team on the ice in front of him, but that doesn’t ignore his electrifying averageness. That’s right, Thunderbug is average. He’s cute and cuddly, but he’s cuter in cartoon form on one of those pamphlets at the All-Star Game promoting the mascots game or whatever.

The Ducks introduced their one-year only third jerseys for 2018-19 and it cost them. Not necessarily on the ice– as a regular season game has yet to have been played– but it cost them in this mascot ranking because Wild Wing shouldn’t have to wear a sweater that screams “all 25 years of the franchise in one shirt”. Next!

Winnipeg may be flying high, but like the Anaheim Ducks, the Jets introduced some sub-par alternate sweaters to the world this season. Now, they aren’t as bad as Anaheim’s, but something tells me Thrasher would look better in baby blue rather than Mick E. Moose.

After careful consideration, Stinger’s moved up above a lot of the competition, but still has higher to climb. Another year has passed since Boomer working the mascot tandem with Stinger and the Blue Jackets brought back their quality third jerseys (albeit with the new-age number font and everything that they currently have on their home and road sweaters). It’s a redemptive year for Stinger, even though Columbus has still yet to win a playoff series.

There’s nothing to complain about a plain looking bear, but Louie is kind of a Carlton the Bear knockoff. Nobody tell the Toronto Maple Leafs that though. It’s just another average year unless the Blues really wow him on the ice and finally win a Cup. Regardless, Louie puts on a smile every night and goes to work knowing one of these years Doug Armstrong will probably trade him and take the offseason to make the team that much better.

Taylor Hall won the Hart Trophy last season as one of the hottest players on the ice, but there’s something even hotter in Jersey. It’s the Devil himself. Well, the N.J. Devil, that is. He’s on the rise and could be in the top-10 in 2019’s rankings depending on how he takes care of division rival, Gritty, trying to steal his spotlight. We’ll leave it up to his devilish plans.

A star is rising in the big-D and it’s not just Tyler Seguin’s cap hit beginning in the 2019-20 season thanks to his extension he signed with the Stars this month. Victor E. Green’s starting to take on more of the role of a veteran mascot, what with Chance and Gritty having been introduced after him now.